Some things are better left in the past. Green silk shirts in school pictures, high school/college drama, the four-year stint of having a boy haircut (yeah, I'm a girl) ... and the like. Some things should, by all means, be discussed as often as possible. Enter childhood toys.
So here's the deal. When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of toys around the house. I'm not laying a sob story out here ... like we were too poor to have toys. We just didn't have a lot of them. And I was too busy crawling out of my crib and walking out the front door to cross our busy street without my mom noticing ... at least she didn't notice until she heard cars screeching to a halt and she knew immediately that ornery Molly was once again up to her usual shenanigans. So when I was asked what my favorite childhood toys were, the list wasn't long. But it was long enough for that gooey-warm reminiscent feeling, which warranted a blog. Not a good blog, but a new blog nonetheless.
Instead of including my list of five-or-so favorite toys, I'm going to go into great detail to appease my inner-child and talk about my longest lasting toy relationship.
In fact, this one still makes me doe-eyed and fond when speaking of it. American Girl dolls. (To my male readers, nice seeing you again. I'm guessing you'll be exiting here.)
I'm not sure when this collection of dolls was created, but I was probably pretty close to being in the founding era. They were higher-end dolls ... each with a detailed back-story and each belonged to a different historic time. Not only did each have a back-story, but you could purchase collection of books about your American Girl and a slew of clothing/accessories in accordance to each story. (Pish posh on "imagination.")
Back in my day, there were only four dolls to choose from. Samantha - the 1904 rich girl with really nice hair; Kirsten - the 1854 Swedish immigrant new the the U.S., complete with cute blonde hair; Felicity - the 1774 red head who's ahead of her time; and Molly - the 1944, glasses-wearing girl waiting for her father to return home from WWII. (Upon further research, there are something like 15 different dolls now. I'm partial to the Original Four. Yes, they deserve capitalization.)
My older sister reached her age of American Girl-dom and received Samantha for Christmas. So I knew I shouldn't hope for a repeat. So I decided I really wanted Kirsten. The blonde hair enticed me. So a few years later when time finally came when I was old enough to be able to handle the responsibility of owning an American Girl, which doll do I get? Molly. The last one on my list. I mean, I know my name is Molly but come on ... she wears glasses and braided pigtails. Nerd alert! I grew to love my Molly doll, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed when she was looking me in the face instead of Kirsten on that Christmas morning. (So what. I was a brat. Shutup about it.)
Anyway, I can't tell you how many birthdays and Christmas seasons were spent perusing the AG catalogue for additions to my "Wish List." From Molly's dance recital outfit, to her bedroom furniture set and lunch sack for school, it was scratched down. I rarely got something from the actual catalogue, but instead had things sewn by my mom/Grandma (including a matching outfit for me oftentimes) but I was so delighted for new additions that I wasn't ever bummed about the unauthentic stuff. And now that I'm older (hey, I'm 24 now!), I totally appreciate these home-sewn gifts rather than the overpriced catalogue accessories.
So even though the price of these dolls are a little steep, if I ever have children and they happen to be female, it's safe to say their memories will be filled with American Girl goodness. Even if they do want the Molly doll ... If said children happen to be male and they still want an American Girl doll, that's another blog entirely.
(In order to prevent lame blogs as this one for future entries, topic suggestions will be taken and appreciated. And I thank you.)
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2 comments:
My best friend Sarah had American Girl dolls, but her mom wouldn't let us play with them! Isn't that the worst punishment for a child? "Hey, here's this doll that you can only look at." For shame.
Molly was my first American Doll girl doll. At age 10, she resembled me the most with her brown hair, glasses, and blue eyes. I thought Molly was exceptionally cooler than the other girls because she had a whole outfit and adventure based on playing capture-the-flag (think: Wild and Crazy Kids) at summer camp (Salute Your Shorts). She also had a great bright yellow rain jacket with red galoshes. My next American Girl doll was actually not one of the girls at all - she was the American Girl baby. I don't even remember if the "baby" had an official name or not. I got her as a gift when my dad and Nola told me that I was going to have a new baby sister, Cori. The baby wasn't all that exciting to me. The baby didn't have stories to read or cool outfits. Shortly after the baby, I got Samantha. I had a love/hate relationship with her - sometimes I thought she was so elegant and graceful and other times I thought she was a spoiled snot. She had a beautiful Christmas dress. Kristin (or was it Kerstin?) would have been my next pick but I never got her. Today's girls are out of control. I heard that they retired a lot of the original things and now the girls are super trendy and obviously much more diverse. You can now you can pick the physical characteristics you want your girl to have! My niece Riley got one this past Christmas and named her Julie. American Girl has big stores now (one just opened up in Dallas) so there's not as much excitement to receive the same catalogue over and over (it never changed).
Molly, did you ever have any of the real size matching outfits for yourself? Ha! I always wanted them but never got one...
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